South West Division One
Cinderford 17
Berry Hill 12
BILLED as the battle of the haves and have-nots, this was a tigerish Forest battle both sides wanted to win – Cinderford to continue their assault on the league title and Berry Hill to keep clear of the relegation zone.
Cinderford took the honours and deservedly so, said Berry Hill's player/coach, Lee Osborne.
"There were many aspects of our game I was pleased with and the gap between us has closed considerably since early in the season. But to be fair Cinderford had better quality and made the right decisions at the right time," he said.
"Yes, it would be fair to say I am a bit disappointed. We played well, particularly at the line-outs – an area of play we had worked hard on all week – and our fitness was very good but when we piled on the pressure towards the end we got a little too excited and made a few handling errors as well as a few poor decisions," he said.
Osborne's biggest concern remains Berry Hill's lowly league position.
"Both sides below us also won so we are still third from bottom and involved in the relegation battle. We have some hard matches ahead," he said.
Cinderford had to survive a late scare as Berry Hill made a determined second-half recovery but they were sitting on a huge 17-nil advantage. A try by Mike Hart and two penalties by Matt Sherratt had given Cinderford an 11-nil interval lead and they added to that with two more Sherratt penalties.
Tries by Mark Graham and Nick Harris, one of which Osborne converted, gave Berry Hill a glimmer of hope but, as Osborne reflected, it was too late in the game to do much more than build up a grandstand finish.